Slag tips

Slag tips

View of the slag tips to the north of the works site. The old copper smelting process produced a lot of iron-rich slag, which was initially just dumped. A sizeable section of the White Rock site itself is probably build on such slag heaps as the section near to the river was basically marshland. (The level of the quays is now a good 2 metres above the river level). However, the land soon became dry and plants grew wherever they could, including on the mountainside behind the smelter works. In later years it was realised that so long as the slag wasn’t contaminated with poisonous chemicals it could be successfully used as landfill for roads. The track visible on the photo was probably there to allow trucks access to collect slag for such a purpose.